Weekend Scenes + Chocolate
Hi there. I hope you enjoyed a long weekend! Here, its been spring one day, winter the next. We go from being jacket-free to sitting in front of the fire and piling on blankets. Saturday was gorgeous so we ditched our plans for a little family day trip to a museum up north and headed to the forest for a hike instead.
We got lost in the woods. For a couple hours. With two chidlren. It had its moments. Not all so good. Apparently, somehow or other we veered off the easy, well paved, level trail and ended up on one that was steep, muddy, and LOOOONG. We survived. And laughed about it later. After we recovered.
We got lost in the woods. For a couple hours. With two chidlren. It had its moments. Not all so good. Apparently, somehow or other we veered off the easy, well paved, level trail and ended up on one that was steep, muddy, and LOOOONG. We survived. And laughed about it later. After we recovered.
Sunday, winter and gray skies retruned. We finally removed the very dead greens from our window boxes, much to our neighbor's delight, I'm sure! :) Jimmy played board games with Andrew and his friend, Charlie took a 3.5 hour nap, I cooked, lit lots of candles, and we kept the fire going all day. After a hearty beef stew we had these...
{top with fresh whip cream ~ heavy cream + 1 TBS powdered sugar + dash of vanilla. whip on high}
Today I braved the museum {always a packed house on holidays and weekends} with my two boys. We had a blast together though! It was such a treat to have Andrew along since I usualy just take Charlie on school days.
By 3:00, it was up to almost 50 degrees again, so out we all went. Armed with a steady suppply of warm cookies from the oven. All measuring and mixing done by Charlie. When he was actually Charlie that is, because these days the majority of his waking hours are spent either as a "Ghost-Buster" or "Spider-Man".
{don't even ask! :)}
{My recipe ~ the traditional Toll House recipe + 1 bag of Ghiradelli semi sweet chips,
that's in addition to the Toll House chips.
Use convection oven if you have it too. Makes better chocolate chip cookies.
Not sugar cookies though, they seem to prefer traditional oven.}
Looking at these pictures, some from my phone others from my camera, I'm struck by the ebb and flow of life these days. All the little highs and lows, all in the course of a typical day. I can feel complete adoration one minute and total frustration the next. These picture show the good stuff that somehow manages amid all the chaos. The chocolate faces, the dressing up, the pretend play, the outings and trips we take together, these are the things I choose to remember, the things I will be present for when they are happening. Because everyday, sometimes in the smallest of ways, they are there.